


prettier than flowers

by lookslikehecansurf



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: (just once and i tried to keep it not triggering), (mikey works in a flower shop), Anal Sex, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blowjobs, Boys touching boys, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Neighbors AU, flower shop au, luke's in college but it's not plot-important rlly so i'm not tagging as a college au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 00:04:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8306185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookslikehecansurf/pseuds/lookslikehecansurf
Summary: Michael loved pretty things, so he didn't mind working in a flower shop even though it's boring, demanding and always cold. What he didn't expect, however, is that there would be a boy who Michael would learn to see prettier than any flower in his shop. or, Luke needs flowers for a date, and Michael doesn't want to sell them. (featuring Ashton who doesn't understand Luke and Calum who is bad at Monopoly)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paperstorm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperstorm/gifts).



> this is just a little cheesy au for y'all, any kudos and comments would be much appreciated :)
> 
> (English isn't my first language and I might make mistakes, feel free to correct them)

As far as first dates go, Luke’s date was pretty much a failure. And it hadn’t even started yet.

First off, Luke was ridiculously late. It wasn’t much of a surprise, really. As Luke’s friend Niall liked to say, Luke got into that habit before he was even born since he had been delivered two days after he was due. Niall would know, after all, he was Luke’s best friend since aforementioned birth. They might have grown apart a little since they went to college in two different cities, but he still knew Luke better than anyone.

At the moment, however, Niall’s name was mostly used as a curse word as he was the one who got Luke into this mess in the first place, having set him up on a blind date. And Luke _really_ wanted to make it because Niall described his date as a _really_ nice guy, but the problem was that Luke was _really_ unprepared.

So he ran out of his shabby little apartment, throwing on a leather jacket and zipping up his fly at the same time, his breath frantic as he waited for the elevator. His brain told him that he could have put his, according to Niall, ‘supernaturally long legs’ to use and make it down faster than in this slow ass elevator, so he decided to roll with it and just run down the stairs.

Luke finally got out of the building and hurried to the bus stop, and of course the bus just wouldn’t come. Luke cursed Niall yet again, this time for not even giving him his date’s number so he could warn him he’s late. Now this Really Nice Guy would think Luke was some jerk for standing him up, and probably wouldn’t wait up for him and wouldn’t agree on another date, and Luke didn’t really have a dozen of Really Nice Guys lined up at his door…

The bus stopped with a screech and Luke jumped in, almost tripping over the top step. Embarrassed blush crept up his cheeks, but the late bus was basically empty, just an old couple in the middle of the bus and a couple burnouts in the back. To avoid further embarrassment, Luke plopped on one of the first seats and the bus drove off.

As if sensing Luke’s urge, the bus driver drove fast, and usually it scared the crap out of Luke (especially considering his seat right in front of the windshield where he could see the terrifying speed of the gray asphalt moving underneath them), but he didn’t mind that much this evening. He glanced at his phone screen - he was supposed to be at the spot three minutes ago. Shit.

The drive to a neighboring suburb where the Really Nice Guy was (hopefully) waiting for Luke usually took about half an hour, but the driver made it in 15. Luke kinda wanted to ask him out as well out of pure gratitude.

He got off the bus, looking around in an attempt to understand which direction to go from there, and his eyes fell on a flower shop across the road.

Not a bad idea, he thought. Might as well use it to make up for his being late. So he ran across the road (fuck the zebras, he’s punk rock) and entered the thick with flowery scent air of the shop.

\--

The annoying bell tinkled over Luke’s blonde head as he stepped inside, but the two people in the shop didn’t seem to notice. One of them was clearly the cashier, in a ridiculous lilac vest over a white t-shirt - a combo that contrasted horrendously with the boy’s flaming red hair. The other one was everything the cashier wasn’t - dark skinned, black-haired and muscular. Luke had mistaken him for a customer at first, but seeing the way they were cracking up at something in the redhead’s phone he realized they were friends.

“Ahem,” he tried to announce his presence, stepping closer to the two boys. They looked a little older, but Luke was too late to his date to care about that. When neither of them acknowledged him, Luke felt mildly annoyed.

“Hey,” he said, his chin up. He usually wasn’t the one to be unnecessarily rude, but come on. He was late and they were ignoring him.

“What?” The redhead finally responded, raising his head with an unfriendly expression. Luke felt slightly taken aback at the guy’s furrowed brows (with a fucking piercing through one of them) and his green eyes unpleasantly narrowed. The dude was kind of scary. Being ditched by his Really Nice Guy was scarier, though.

“I need some flowers,” Luke said far more aggressively than it’s supposed to sound. The other guy eyed him carefully, only causing Luke to raise his chin higher.

“What for?” The guy inquired lazily with a sigh, his friend attempted to tap something on his phone at the same time as the cashier spoke, causing him to slap the other’s hand away.

“For a date,” Luke hissed through clenched teeth. Couldn’t this guy just focus on doing his job for a minute?

“Hey, go on a date with me,” the dark-haired one proposed in a deep, low voice. “I won’t even ask you to buy me any flowers,” he finished with a wink and the two erupted in laughter. That’s it, Luke thought. I’ve had enough.

“You’re a fucking jerk,” he said to the snorting dark-haired boy and turned to the cashier. “You as well,” he spat, leaning forward to read the name tag on the lilac uniform, “Michael.”

Michael’s eyes widened in surprise, but Luke didn’t stick around long enough to witness his further reaction as he turned and strolled out the door in two angry steps.

\--

This was probably a mistake.

Luke was there, in front of a grungy-looking cafe where he was supposed to meet his date, and he was sure it was some sort of a prank.

There was a guy waiting right in front of the first window of the cafe, and it was the most good-looking guy Luke had ever seen. Tall, buff, with square jaw and a lazy wave of dark blonde hair falling to the left side of his face - he was basically a dream come true already. Add to that his stylish round glasses and a weird-looking green jacket and brown velvety boots with pointy noses and you’d get the level of artistic coolness Luke could only hope for. His own styled quiff and a button-up and shiny boots looked too preppy now, and Luke didn’t know if he really wanted to come up to that guy. Especially if he’s a Really Nice one.

“Hey,” Luke mumbled hoarsely as he approached his supposed date. The guy would probably kill him for being half an hour late. What was he thinking?..

“Hi,” the blonde turned to him immediately, a bright smile gracing his lips. “You’re Luke?”

“Yeah,” he smiled sheepishly. That smile got him out of a lot of fights with Niall. “Sorry I’m so late, I literally don’t even have a good excuse.”

“S’alright,” the guy kept smiling, his hazel eyes warm. “I actually got here about ten minutes ago and was worried you’ve already left…”

\--

Luke stood there waiting for the elevator, a dreamy smile on his face. Ashton did turn out to be really nice, and they’d spent most of the evening drinking tea and eating insanely delicious muffins until it was dark and late. Ashton insisted on walking Luke home since he’d missed the last bus (which Ashton took full responsibility for). They talked on the way back as well, and Luke didn’t really want to say goodbye, so instead he let Ashton kiss him on the cheek and take his phone number.

He was awakened from his thoughts by the shuffling sounds of someone entering the building, and the smile was quick to disappear from his face as he saw a curly-haired boy from the flower shop, Michael’s friend. Michael’s friend was piss drunk.

“Oh, hey you,” he mumbled incoherently. “You were a dick to my best friend today. I remember you.”

“Yeah, well, you were both dicks to me,” Luke mumbled back, the irritation from their first encounter still present.

“I was genuinely asking you out, bro,” the boy slurred, his accent thicker by the minute. “You’re, like, really hot.”

Luke couldn’t help but feel flattered and pleasant. He’s been called nice, cute, sweet and all that, but never hot. He didn’t care that it came from a drunk acquaintance he didn't even know the name of.

“Thanks, I guess,” Luke said, glad that it was dark and the boy couldn't see him blushing. Luke wouldn’t want him getting any ideas. Where the hell was this goddamn elevator anyway?

“But hey, you were going on a date, right? So it’s a little too late for me, haha,” the boy chuckled and stumbled around in the dark hall towards the staircase. Luke raised his head.

“Hey, you sure you wanna go up there on foot? The elevator-”

“Never works,” the boy deadpanned. “Been living here for five years, only once got a ride. You don’t even wanna know where that ended.”

For a drunk guy, he was making a lot of sense.

“Okay, at least let me help you then,” Luke said, deciding he couldn’t just leave the boy to trip over somewhere on the stairs and bash his head. The boy gave him a long look and smiled.

“Turns out you’re not a dick at all, are you now? What’s your name, by the way?”

“Luke,” he answered and the other boy smiled at him.

“I’m Calum.”

“Well, Calum,” said Luke as he led the other boy up the dark flights of stairs.  “Right back at ya."

\--

 

Luke’s life got considerably better since he’d started dating Ashton.

He basically got rid of his habit of being late, since Ashton got upset over it, and Luke didn’t like upsetting Ashton. It was like turning off the sun. Second, he often invited Luke to hang out at his indie apartment, and Luke’s gotten used to eating proper meals for dinner. Third, he had an amazing music taste and Luke took advantage of that, discovering tons of new music for himself.

Luke’s life got considerably worse since he’s met Michael.

It turned out that he lived with his much nicer friend Calum two floors above Luke’s flat, which was not a good thing. Now Luke knew the source of the constantly blaring at night music that had no trouble penetrating the floors all the way to his apartment and uncontrollable laughter and sometimes sounded so weird he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what caused it. It, however, didn’t help him deal with it. Luke was a college student, after all, and he needed his good night’s sleep. But even though Luke and Calum were all good now and nodded each other hello when they occasionally met on the staircase, Luke didn’t know what to make of Michael. And he certainly didn’t look forward to another confrontation with him, but life didn’t care about that.

So of course it always happened to be Michael who hit Luke with the front door of the building on his way out and didn’t even apologize, it happened to be Michael who saw Luke fall embarrassingly on the slippery wet stairs and laughed at him out loud.

And of course it happened to be Michael who was going up to Calum’s at the exact same moment Luke discovered he’d locked himself out.

“Brain freeze, dumbass?” He said, stopping on the top step of Luke’s floor, a small devious smile already on his lips.

Luke, quite frankly, couldn’t decide what he hated more: the constant sickly sweet scent of flowers that followed Michael everywhere, his stupidly green eyes that always looked at him with resentment, or that goddamn smile that was ready to spread across his face at any moment when he’d spot Luke in yet another embarrassing situation.

“Fuck off,” he snapped, not in the mood for another fight.

Michael, however, did not.

“Oh no, I am so staying for this. What happened, your date took your apartment?”

Luke’s jaw tightened, and he tried to calm himself with a sigh. Wasted effort.

“Wait, I got it. You lost your keys, didn’t you? Just like you probably lost your brains somewhere along the way…”

“Okay, you’ve gotta stop,” Luke said, turning around. He was taller than Michael even without the quiff, his shoulders much broader and more muscular than ones of a scrawny flower shop cashier’s. That and Luke’s unusually loud and angry voice seemed to intimidate Michael, and he took a step back. Luke laughed. “You’re just a fucking coward.”

“At least I didn’t lock myself out of my own apartment,” Michael shot back, and Luke’s face fell.

“How’d you know?” He frowned asking this, and it was Michael’s turn to laugh.

“It was a random guess but thanks for clearing up the fact that you’re a total loser and a complete mess.”

“You-” Luke choked, then turned around so Michael wouldn’t see his cheeks, red with shame.

Minutes flew by, but neither of them moved or said a word, and Luke felt more awkward by the second. If Michael had thought of some new insult, why wouldn’t he say it? And if he didn’t, why wouldn’t he just leave?

“Get out of the way,” Michael said suddenly, making Luke flinch. Luke instinctively looked over to see the stairway clear and frowned.

“I’m not _in_ the way, you can go,” he said, motioning to the stairs leading up but still not turning around.

“I don’t mean the fucking stairs, you dumbass,” Michael grumbled. “I mean your apartment door. I can get it open, if you get your ass out of the way.”

This time, Luke turned around.

 

\--

 

Luke tried not to think of where exactly Michael could have learned a rare skill of picking a random lock, but it was hard.

Another thing that was hard was currently in Luke’s pants.

“Come on, babe,” Ashton breathed out, his hips grinding against Luke’s as they lay on Ashton’s couch. Luke felt his hot lips on his neck, his long bony fingers tangled in Luke’s hair. Luke didn’t really like Ashton messing up his quiff, but he couldn’t think of a way to tell him and not upset Ashton.

Luke was usually quite eager for making out, especially since Ashton was a real gentleman and never left Luke without an orgasm after this, but today it didn’t really feel as good.

Luke went over to Ashton’s right after his classes, the day next after the one when he’d locked himself out and Michael picked his lock and let Luke in. But Luke still couldn’t quite get it out of his head: the way Michael’s childish face was all scrunched up in concentration or the way his bum looked in those tight skinny jeans when he was bent over in front of the lock.

“Oh-kay,” Ashton said, sitting up rather abruptly. “I think that’s enough for the day.”

“W-what?” Luke let out a laugh, trying to hide his disappointment. “What’s wrong?”

 "Well, I think I should be asking you that,” Ashton replied rather bitterly. “Since you’re the one with your head in the clouds while we’re making out. I know I’m good, Luke, but not that good.”

Luke felt guilty, his hard-on slowly deflating like a balloon.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that guy…”

“What guy?” Ashton looked so hurt, that Luke immediately felt even worse. “No, oh my god, I didn’t mean that!.. He’s like, my nemesis or something,” Luke hurried to explain. His hands reluctantly moved to Ashton’s, and the curly boy sighed.

“Feel like telling me?”

“No, feel like burying him somewhere deep and dark,” Luke growled, really wishing more than anything for Michael to get the hell out of his life.

“Okay, if you just mean, like, in your thoughts, I get that, but if not, then, you know… I got a shovel,” Ashton attempted to joke, coaxing a smile out of Luke. 

“I’m sorry, okay? You’re so great to me and here I am thinking about that loser when I’m with you,” Luke said, unable to get the hurt look on Ashton’s face out of his head. Ashton squeezed his hand.

“It’s alright,” he whispered, and there wasn’t any self-pity in his soft words, only concern for Luke. “I could go teach him a lesson, if you want,” Ashton offered reluctantly. He wasn’t much for violence and fights, but if Luke needed protecting Ashton would do it in a heartbeat.

“No,” Luke shook his head. “I can take care of myself.”

“Independent,” Ashton murmured, his lips curving up again, “I like that.”

He kissed Luke sweetly, but this time Luke was the one to initiate things. He kissed back with passion, his hands roaming all over Ashton’s sculpted body.

“I like _you_ ,” Luke breathed out in between kisses, moving his lips to Ashton’s neck, and he could feel the other boy smile.

“You’re so cheesy, you’re lucky I like you back,” Ashton giggled, but the sound drowned in a moan that Luke had elicited out of him working magic on Ashton’s skin. Luke smiled himself, satisfied that he could have this effect on Ashton, and dived into it with twice as much excitement, resolving to kick Michael out of his head once and for all.

 

\--

 

Luke had a bad day at college, to say the least.

First, his assignment that he’d been working on for a week got lost somewhere, and the professor demanded it be done over again. Luke was pissed, but then someone in the cafeteria absolutely _had_ to drop their drink right on Luke’s shoes, and it was then when Luke knew it wasn’t going to get any better.

Then followed a wrongly answered question in another class, which Luke kept coming back to in his mind, a long queue in his favorite coffee shop and the grocery store that was out of Luke’s favorite cereal.

So, Luke wasn’t really surprised to walk up to his door at ten in the evening after hearing a knock, only to find a grumpy looking Michael standing on the other side.

“What?” Luke spat out, not in the mood for any of his shit. “You want to insult me so much you’re gonna come to my door?”

Michael looked up, clearly thinking of at least a dozen of snarky comebacks, but bit his tongue.

“I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to,” he mumbled. “But Calum’s getting laid up there so he kicked me out, and I got nowhere else to go.”

“If you think that I’m gonna pity you, think again,” Luke barked, not impressed in the least. How was it any of his concern?

“I don’t need your fucking pity,” Michael growled, then remembered the position he was in and bit his lip. “I just need a favor.”

“And why the hell would I do that?” Luke wondered, crossing his arms. In the back of his mind, he was secretly enjoying this, coming up with a way to get something out of Michael.

“Cause you owe me, for picking your damn lock,” Michael grumbled. “Or did you already forget?”

Luke didn’t ask for an image of Michael’s ass to resurface in his brain. It would be really hard to forget that, he thought distantly, then was pulled back to reality by Michael’s voice.

“So, are you gonna let me in or what?”

Luke sighed. Like it or not, he did owe Michael, so he stepped aside and let his nemesis walk right into his small ass apartment, wondering how much worse this day could possibly get.

 

\--

 

It was awkward, to say the least.

Luke sat on his bed, trying (and failing) to read his sociology book, while Michael huddled in an armchair, pulling his legs to his chest. The apartment building was never really warm, and a chilly autumn night didn’t make it any nicer. Luke was pretty comfortable in his old wool blanket, but Michael was only wearing a thin sweatshirt, and it was obvious he was cold.

“Shoulda worn something warmer,” he muttered under his nose, making Luke wonder if it was aimed at him or not. He didn’t feel like he owed the guy anything else beside a place to sleep. It was a lot to ask as it is, considering they hated each other, but now that Michael was here Luke didn’t want to worry about Michael’s condition.

“Yeah, if you had a brain,” Luke retorted quietly, half hoping Michael wouldn’t hear. He did.

“You locked yourself out,” reminded Michael, glaring at Luke.

“You work in a flower shop,” Luke laughed, happy to find a way to shut him up. To his surprise, Michael didn’t pull out a counteroffensive retort, but hid his fluffy-haired head deeper in his shoulders.

“So what if I like flowers,” he said, addressing his lap where his small hands lay, clutched together with sleeves pulled over the wrists. There was a certain softness in his voice, something that Luke hadn’t noticed before. There was a side of Michael he hadn’t seen yet. It surprised Luke that Michael even said it, leaving Luke an opportunity to mock him further, and maybe that’s exactly why Luke didn’t.

“Which ones?” Luke asked quietly after a pause, as if afraid that Michael will wake from this quiet, drowsy mood and get loud and defensive again.

Michael’s green eyes shot up from under his colorful fringe, his lips twitched. Luke was ready to hear a cruel laugh, ready to find out Michael was just playing him…

“The small ones, like forget-me-nots,” he answered finally, in a small voice, and Luke smiled, relieved that he graced him with a reply. Michael’s shining eyes were totally worth it.

It got quiet then, because Luke wasn’t quite prepared to have a conversation about flowers with Michael, and the awkwardness was present in the air even more profoundly than before. Before, they could jump to offensive remarks and snarky comments at any moment, but  now after their little moment neither of them really wanted to keep that up. They couldn’t exactly immediately become best buddies too, so they kept quiet until all light behind the windows died down, even the streetlights were turned off for the night.

“Well,” Luke said awkwardly, putting away his book that he didn’t read a page of. “I’m gonna head to bed, if you… um… I’ve got class tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Michael nodded, biting his lip and not looking at Luke. “Just wake me up when you have to leave and kick me out.”

“I’m not Calum though,” Luke tried to smile. “Not sure I do have the right to kick you out.”

“It’s your house,” Michael shrugged.

Another pause followed, Luke finally got up from his bed.

“There’s a mattress in the spare room,” he announced to the air surrounding him. He somehow couldn’t force himself to look straight at his unexpected guest. “If you don’t mind sleeping on the floor-”

“Yeah I’m fine,” Michael rushed to answer, getting up as well. Luke looked around.

“It’s just, I’ve only got one blanket, and this old little thing,” he said, weighing the wool blanket in his hand. It was cold as it is, more so on the floor. He just couldn’t make Michael sleep without a blanket, too.

“That’s okay, it’ll do,” Michael seemed weirdly agreeing, just grabbing the blanket from Luke and stepping towards the spare room. “Good night, I guess.”

“Yeah. Goodnight,” Luke gulped, not understanding why he was feeling so on edge. Michael didn’t say anything else, just disappeared behind the door, and it was easy enough to imagine he wasn’t there, but Luke still couldn’t sleep. He knew it was late and he’d be very sleepy and tired tomorrow, but for some reason Michael shiny eyes and soft smile just wouldn’t stop haunting him.

\--

 

Luke was very sleepy and tired.

He barely dragged his ass out of bed, already being half an hour late to class. He only had time for brushing his teeth or having breakfast, so he chose the first, stumbling into the bathroom as he was putting on a hopefully not wrinkled shirt. He put a snapback over his hair cause he had no time to style it and rushed out a minute later, grabbing his backpack along the way. His apartment door slammed shut behind him, and Luke ran down the stairs, fighting a wish to do so with his eyes closed. With Luke’s nonexistent hand-eye coordination, it probably wouldn’t end well.

Luke was halfway through his third and last class of the day when it hit him: he never woke Michael up.

The thought was sudden and terrifying, rushing through Luke’s entire body like a wave of cold water. He woke up for sure now, staring at the space in front of him in horror. Michael’s been locked in his shitty ass apartment all morning, with almost no food and no way to get out. Luke couldn’t even call him, because he didn’t have Michael’s number, and despite being acquaintances with Calum he never bothered to ask for his number either.

Luke sat on needles the remaining half an hour of the class, running out as soon as the professor let them go. “Shit,” Luke muttered, making his way through the crowded hallways, out in the street, the crossroads and street shops all mixing in his mind as he ran. “Shit, shit,” he kept repeating, angry at the slow-walking pedestrians and red lights and the never working elevator in his own apartment building.

“Shit,” Luke swore again, because of course he had to drop his keys right in front of the door. Luke picked them up and put in the lock with trembling fingers.Finally the door was open, and Luke felt guilt crushing him together with the sweet smell of home. He walked in, kicking off his shoes, and froze in the doorway.

Michael sat on the same chair as yesterday, a book in his lap and a steaming mug of coffee in his fingers, barely visible out of the sleeves of his shirt that he pulled over the wrists again. He looked… Luke didn’t know like what. Like a kitten, all furry and soft, or maybe like a best friend you don’t mind just hanging out with for every day of your life. He looked comfortable, not awkward and frozen in one spot like the day before. He looked-

“Hey,” Michael raised his head from the book, smiling a little. “Thanks for waking me before you left.” It was a sarcastic line, but there wasn’t any venom in it, like Michael was just teasing.

“I- fuck, I’m sorry. I slept through my alarms, and I was late, and I never really have anyone over, so I’m not used to having to wake someone up,” Luke tried to defend himself, words scattering all over the place. Michael, however, seemed calm as ever.

“What about that guy you’re dating? The one you wanted the flowers for? Don’t you bring him along for a little action?” Michael wiggled his eyebrows at the blond, and Luke felt his cheeks going red.

“I don’t want to bring him here,” Luke confessed, plucking the snapback off his head, because his hands felt twitchy and needed something to fiddle with. “It’s embarrassing, he’s got a great flat, and I’ve just got this,” he glances around the apartment.

Michael didn’t say anything, and Luke wasn’t surprised. What did he expect, a compliment?

“Sorry for locking you in here,” Luke apologized awkwardly. “I don’t even have your number, or I’d tell you where the spare key is…”

“Don’t need one,” Michael huffed. “Already picked your lock once, pretty sure I could do it twice.”

Realization hit Luke like a ton of bricks. Michael had a point, he definitely could have gotten out.

“So why didn’t you?”

Luke was racking his brain, searching for possible explanations, but couldn’t find any. Michael could have gotten out very easily, but for some reason, he didn’t. And that was in a way even worse, because Luke couldn’t imagine a reason why Michael would stay in his right mind.

Michael too seemed to realize what he had just said. His eyes widened in terror, then froze on the carpet when Luke asked his question.

“I don’t know,” he said in a voice harsher than it was before, and got up. “I have to go,” he said, leaving the book and the mug on the table right next to the book Luke read yesterday, and then he walked out of the room, not even looking back. Luke didn’t even realize what the fuck just happened, but in his heart he knew that whatever there was between him and Michael, it wouldn’t be the same now, and he didn’t know if he should regret it or not.

 

\--

 

Luke didn’t know how it would be from now on between Michael and him, but he didn’t want to be the one initiating their next conversation. They both stayed silent when they happened to meet on the staircase, and Luke would much prefer keeping it this way because at least he wasn’t mocked and laughed at, but right now it didn’t seem like an option.

See, Luke had a test on a very serious subject the next day, and he was studying all day, preparing and looking through his notes and consulting various books. But at around six o’clock in the evening the silence was interrupted by booming music from upstairs, and Luke sighed heavily.

He knew that this meant Calum and Michael were having another one of their music nights, and there wasn’t really anything to be done, and Luke didn’t want to be that guy who comes knocking on their door and tells them to keep it down. But the test was important, and Luke’s education was important, so he gathered some courage, grabbed a jacket to appear more serious and walked out of his apartment, stomping upstairs.

Even when he was still on the stairway it became clear he was wrong. This wasn’t just some two-man listening party, this was a full on house party with people hanging out in the corridor and the stairs of Calum and Michael’s floor. There was a strong smell of alcohol and snacks, and music was so loud Luke  was honestly surprised that even the deaf old ladies who populated the entire building couldn’t hear it.

He pushed through people all the way to the only door in the corridor that was open and hesitated a little. No one invited him, and he suspected Michael could throw a fit over this if he felt like it, but Luke remembered his studying and went inside.

The apartment was small, noisy and messy. It was so crowded with people, Luke couldn’t see any of the interior behind their bodies, even though all the lights were on. Luke quickly realized that there’s no reason for Calum and Michael to actually be inside, so he grabbed a guy closest to him and asked, “Hey, where’s Calum?”

“Calum?” The guy asked, focusing his drunk eyes on Luke, and he nodded impatiently. He figured he had better chances convincing Calum to turn it down, and he didn’t feel like contacting Michael at all.

The guy Luke was still holding by the shoulder finally pointed his finger towards the main room, and Luke immediately directed himself there. The constant pushes and touches that came from everyone around him annoyed him to no end, and he was already in the doorway when he felt a hand on his upper arm, grabbing at him unceremoniously.

He turned to see a dude who looked older than him and drunk out of his mind, who gave Luke a cocky smile.

“What’s a pretty guy like you doing alone?”

“Fuck off,” Luke snapped, trying to free his arm, but the dude was stronger than him, grabbing Luke’s other hand too, and a flash of panic flooded his mind. What if he couldn’t get rid of him? What was he going to do here, like the guy noted, all alone?"

The guy flipped him around, pushing Luke against the wall, and Luke cowered up as much as he could, trying to avoid the roaming hands, and looked around, hoping to see Calum anywhere, but the moment his head turned to the right his eyes instantly locked with a pair of all too familiar green ones.

Michael stood in the doorway opposite of the living room, and Luke thought for a second that he was gonna smile and walk away, but there was no hint of fun on Michael’s face as he barged through the people separating them.

“Let him go,” he said, prying the guy away from Luke, and Luke was surprised at how strong the scrawny flower shop cashier actually was. The guy’s hands finally stopped touching Luke, and he jumped away on instinct, forgetting all about why he was actually here and only wanting to get far away from this disgusting person and wash off this horrifying experience. The guy made a move to grab Luke again, and Michael shoved him hard, so his back hit the wall and he groaned in pain, sliding to the floor. Michael looked at him, looked back at Luke (Luke was surprised at the pale fire that burned in his eyes) and gestured forward, showing Luke where to go.

Luke went ahead, glad that Michael didn’t touch him, and he ended up at the end of the small hallway in front of the locked door. It was quieter here, all the people hanging out in the spacier places, and Luke turned back to face Michael, confusion he felt written plainly across his face.

“Are you alright?” Michael asked, lowly, as if he was afraid that people would overhear. Luke felt his eyebrows going up on their own, because he expected snarky remarks or questioning as of why he was even here, anything, but not this.

“Y-yeah,” he nodded reluctantly, somehow knowing that it was true. He was okay now, and he owed that to the boy in front of him.

“Are you sure? Did he hurt you?” Luke was pretty sure it wasn’t Michael saying those words, he couldn’t be. The Michael Luke knew wouldn’t care. But then again, maybe the Michael Luke knew wasn’t the real one.

“I’m fine,” Luke said, his voice steadier, and thought that, screw the test, he wasn’t going to ask anything about stopping the party. He knew it was impossible deep inside even before he arrived, and Michael saving Luke made him sure he had already expired his spare of favors to ask for.

“I’ll, um, I’ll just leave,” Luke said, now not knowing what to do and feeling pretty embarrassed because he couldn’t protect himself and Michael could.

“Do you want me to walk you back to your apartment?”

Michael asked this in the same quiet, worried voice that didn’t have a trace of mockery in it, and that’s what made Luke actually take him seriously. This might have sounded ridiculous, considering Luke only had to walk down the corridor and then go two floors down the stairs, but Luke was so shook from the way the guy attacked him, he nodded before he could think about it. Michael looked at him again, carefully studying his face, and held out his hand.

“You can hold on to me, if you want,” he offered, and Luke didn’t care if Michael laughed at him for this later on, but he needed it. Michael protecting Luke was something wildly out of this world, but Michael taking care of Luke like that made him trust the boy.

Luke’s hand joined with Michael’s, sending a jolt up Luke’s arm that had nothing to do with his awful experience, and Michael led him out the apartment, guiding Luke through the crowd. Some of the people looked back at them, someone hollered and wolf whistled at Michael, but he just walked forward, not slowing down until they reached the stairs.

It was a little weird, holding Michael’s hand because it was so small and a little cold, unlike Ashton's big and warm palm, but it felt so much better to Luke because Luke felt at peace as long as he held on. He almost didn’t want to let go when they stopped in front of of Luke’s door, but Michael pulled his hand back and looked at Luke again.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

And Luke was surprised with himself because he wanted to lie, wanted to tell Michael he wasn’t, if it meant that Michael would come inside and stay for a while and maybe hold his hand a little more. Luke reminded himself that this was insanity, that he had an important test to study for and that he was dating Ashton, so he nodded and watched Michael walk away with a feeling of disappointment that was never there before.

 

\--

 

Ashton, of course, knew that something had happened because Luke didn’t even want to kiss him now, after what happened to him at the party. But he didn’t want to tell Ashton, because Ashton knew he hated Michael and it would be hard to explain he was the one who saved him. Luke didn’t even come to peace with that himself, and he didn’t expect Ashton to understand.

So, naturally, Ashton got upset with Luke for being weird and for not telling him why, and Luke was stuck home all alone for the weekend. His test had passed, and he didn’t even have homework to take up his time, so he stayed in bed, moping around.

He called Niall, he called his brother Jack, even called his Grandma, but it was still only around eleven a.m., and Luke decided to go out. He went down to the mall, got himself a couple of new nice notebooks and a few pens, looked at some new books and even bought a CD which he only allowed himself to do once in a while. None of that seemed to improve his mood, so he was returning home with a grim face when he heard a familiar voice.

“Dude, there’s no way you would beat me. I’m just saying.”

Luke stopped in the middle of the flight of stairs, hearing Michael’s loud voice echoing from the walls. It came from below, and Luke heard footsteps signaling that he and whoever he was talking to were walking up. Luke felt like an ass, but held up and fumbled with his lock, not wanting to go inside just yet.

And surely, in a minute Michael appeared on the top step, accompanied by Calum who carried a rectangular box under his armpit.

“Oh, hey, Luke,” Calum said, as he saw the boy and Michael’s head immediately snapped up. For a moment they looked at each other, but Calum didn’t notice, carrying on. “Are you busy? I need help taking Mikey down in Monopoly,” he showed the box that, indeed , turned out to be a game of Monopoly, and Luke smiled, raising his brows in question.

“Yeah, see,” Calum started, despite Michael’s protests, “He was bragging the whole way back from the store that he’d beat me, and I don’t want to lose, so we can team up against him and throw him down? You up for it?”

“That’s not fair,” Michael groaned, but Luke didn’t care. He just got an opportunity to not be alone for the rest of the day, so Luke nodded vigorously, much to Calum’s satisfaction, and joined the boys on their way up.

When they reached Calum and Michael’s flat, Luke couldn't help but look around. Now that it wasn’t crowded with partying people, he could see that it was shabby and still quite messy, but it’s not like his own flat was any better. In Calum and Michael’s apartment there were only two rooms, a living room and a bedroom, plus a bathroom and a small ass kitchen that Michael immediately went to. Calum gestured for Luke to come to the living room, and they settled down on a weary carpeted floor between a brown sofa with a blanket thrown lazily across the seats and an armchair that didn’t match the couch. Calum opened up the game, spreading the field across the floor, and while he was setting up Luke sat down comfortably, his legs folded beneath him. He risked crushing his phone sitting that way, so he took it out and out on the floor next to him, seeing that he had a missed call from Ashton. He made a mental note to call him back later and saw Michael walking out the kitchen with four bottles of beer in his hands.

“If you think your resistance to alcohol will help you win, think again,” Calum warned but took a bottle and gave another one to Luke. “You drink?”

Luke smiled, because this just proved that he had made the right decision coming here. Calum was nice enough to not assume anything, even Luke’s drinking habits. It might have been a little thing, but it mattered to Luke infinitely.

“Yeah,” he said, accepting the bottle, and watched Michael sit down between Calum and himself, pulling down the sleeves of his worn out sweater. Luke remembered how cold Michael’s hand was when he held it and thought there was no wonder Michael made a habit out of wearing something warm.

The game started, and soon it became clear Michael wasn’t bragging about him Monopoly talents. He knew just when he had to buy something, and he immediately invested in hotels and houses so every time Calum or Luke stepped onto one of his streets, they had to give up a fair amount of money. Even teamed up, Calum and Luke struggled to beat Michael and the only thing going for them was that Luke held three airports with the fourth one still not taken because in the last few laps Michael stepped on the “go to jail” cell and was forced to skip it. Calum finally managed to get on the fourth airport block, effectively buying it, and immediately sold it to Luke for a minimal price. Michael groaned loudly, complaining that it wasn't fair, but since it was all in the spirit of the game, no one took anything seriously.

Michael gritted his teeth with determination obvious on his scrunched up face as he started from the jail cell again, skipping through the entire block of streets belonging to Calum. It was Luke’s turn to roll the dice when his phone vibrated next to him, the screen lighting up with another call from Ashton. Honestly, Luke didn’t anticipate a conversation with him, but still excused himself and went to the kitchen to talk in private.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, why aren’t you answering?” Ashton said, not sounding particularly pleased, and Luke couldn’t really blame him.

“Well, I’m just hanging out with some friends, so I didn't hear the first call,” Luke said, but Ashton liked those words even less.

“I thought you didn't have any friends besides Niall and me,” he said, and that pissed Luke off.

“What, I’m not allowed to have more friends?” He asked a bit louder than he intended and hoped that Calum and especially Michael wouldn’t hear him.

“That’s not what I said,” Ashton backtracked quickly. “I just... Maybe I want to meet your friends too! I want to know what’s going on in your life Luke, and you’re not letting me in!”

But Luke refused to take blame for this, anger taking over him.

“No, you know what, Ash? That’s enough. If I don’t feel like telling you something, I won’t. If I don’t want to kiss you, I shouldn’t have to feel bad about it and you shouldn’t guilt trip me. I get that you want me to trust you and stuff, but it’s not possible if you keep on pushing me and controlling me like this.”

Luke breathed heavily after that little rant, but seconds went and Ashton didn’t answer, so Luke pressed the call end button and shoved the phone back into his pocket, exiting the small kitchen. He was met with questioning looks of the two guys on the floor and was forced to say that he couldn’t stay any longer and had to go home. Luke still thanked them for the nice time, and his voice might have been wavering a little when he said it, and he strongly suspected that Michael heard it because of the way he looked back after Luke as he left, but Luke was too upset and distraught to care.

 

\--

 

Luke spent the rest of his weekend burning out the rest of the anger that Ashton’s call settled in him. He used the energy to clean the house, do his laundry and even cooked a proper meal for once, but still felt the sting of their short conversation fueling him from the inside. He was sure he was right, and Ashton’s silence just confirmed that.

And then, Ashton showed up at his door.

It was Sunday evening, and Luke was about to settle in front of his laptop to watch another episode of The 100 when there was a knock on his door which made Luke abandon his dinner and go open the door.

Ashton stood on the threshold, broody but still attractive, and he looked up at Luke from under his bronze curls.

“Hey, Luke…” He said, and Luke wanted to slam the door in his face but also knew they had to talk this out. He stepped back, allowing Ashton in his apartment, and the other boy smiled a little, encouraged by that.

“I, um… I wanted to say, I’m sorry for the other day,” Ashton started, looking nervous. “You were right, and I shouldn’t have acted the way I had. So I’m sorry.”

Luke nodded, accepting the apology, but he couldn’t find it in him to say anything back.

“Well?” Ashton said after a small pause. “Aren’t you gonna apologize too?”  
  
"What do I have to apologize for?” Luke asked, anger rising in him again.

“Well, if ignoring your boyfriend for days on end is alright with you…” Ashton huffed, but Luke’s attention was fixed on the word he just said in association with Luke.

“Boyfriend?” Luke echoed incredulously, and Ashton looked up at him again. He didn’t say anything, and he obviously didn’t get why Luke was so struck. “Ashton, you never even _asked_ me! I never agreed to be your boyfriend, we were just dating, seeing each other! Do you see the problem? You just assume shit, not even consulting me, and I’m not okay with that!”

Ashton stepped back, just now realizing what Luke meant, and sighed.

“Everything I say turns out wrong.”

“No,” Luke said firmly, deciding once and for all that he was done getting pushed around, “Don’t make me feel sorry for you Ashton, like you’re the victim here. I thought you could at least admit it when you’re wrong without making a scene about it.”

“Luke,” Ashton said rather sadly, “I just don't know what I’m saying. I don’t want to lose you, is all.”

And all of Luke’s anger blew up like a balloon because of the weak voice of this boy in front of him, saying that he cared about Luke enough to be afraid of losing him. It melted Luke’s insides, and he couldn’t help but feel bad.

“Okay,” he said, “I think we both need to cool off and then talk.” Ashton nodded, and it was clear he was ready to agree with anything Luke proposed.

“Let’s meet up on Tuesday,” Luke offered, remembering that Ashton had gym on Mondays and wouldn’t be available. “Same place where our first date was. Talk this out, yeah?”

“Alright,” Ashton said and stepped back to the door. “I’ll see you on Tuesday, then.”

He turned around and left without another word, and Luke didn’t know for the life of him what the hell he was going to do.

 

\--

 

“Fuck,” Luke swore, looking at himself in the mirror. His shirt sat on him all weird, and it didn’t go with his jeans that had holes on the knees, and Luke didn’t even pick the shoes yet.

He wanted to look nice for Ashton, to prove to him that this mattered, but Luke didn’t really believe in that himself. Even more than the last week’s argument, it bothered him that Ashton had said he didn’t want to lose Luke, and Luke didn’t feel the same way. Yeah, he was super nice and good for Luke and all the other stuff that made him a great friend, but Luke never felt that sparkle of excitement and nervousness everyone talked about. He wasn’t constantly thinking about Ashton, or wanting to always be next to him, or losing his head when they were around each other, - any of the symptoms that would signal Luke he was falling in love. He wasn't, and he felt like an ass for not admitting it to Ashton, but he figured he’d try one last time and maybe something would spout from there.

So he changed his hideous white button-up shirt he had for college for a fitted black one and put on his favorite boots to give himself some confidence, then grabbed his wallet and the phone and left.

The bus was taking a long time, and Luke kind of regretted he never learned to drive but also realized he wouldn’t have any money for a car. Another ten minutes at the stop, and Luke was beginning to feel nervous because it was cutting real close to being late, which would totally set the date off to a bad start.

Ten more minutes passed, and Luke couldn’t help but think about the first date he ever had with Ashton and how late he was back then and how Ashton was so nice and never blamed him or got mad. Another pang of guilt hit Luke, making him feel like he was taking Ashton for granted, but the bus finally arrived and Luke tried to push the thought out of his head.

He reached his stop five minutes before seven-thirty, the time when they agreed to meet over texts, and Ashton was nowhere to be seen yet. Luke looked around - it was kind of cold, but he didn’t want to go inside the cafe on his own. Luke’s eyes wandered over the opposite side of the street to notice the flower shop that Luke forgot was even there, the one where Michael worked.

Well, Luke thought, this thing had come full circle and he might as well complete it and go get Ashton a nice bouquet. Luke didn’t really know how Michael would act now, considering they haven’t crossed paths since the day of the Monopoly game, but it couldn’t really be worse than Michael acted the first time they met. It might not even be his shift, Luke told himself as he walked to the other side of the road, to the shop.

Luke saw through the glass door that it was empty, and the unmistakable mop of red hair hovering behind the counter told him that it was indeed Michael’s shift, but it was too late to go back now, so Luke sighed and went inside.

The bell that dinged over his head immediately made Michael turn around, but his face changed from a standard smile to an indifferent one when he saw who came in.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said, his gaze falling on the counter in front of him, and pulled down the sleeves of his sweater. Something inside Luke cracked, remembering how he did that exact thing sitting in Luke’s living room, and then in his own apartment when they played, and somehow it hurt a little. Luke didn’t know why, and he was surprised that Michael was allowed to wear a sweater at work instead of his uniform, but Michael did have a sickly lavender-colored apron with the company logo over it, and it was cold in the shop because the low temperatures helped preserve the flowers. Luke couldn’t help but feel bad for Michael who was stuck here for who knows how many hours, because even if you like flowers, it can’t be fun freezing your ass off the entire day.

“Yeah,” Luke said awkwardly, also avoiding looking at Michael. This was much worse than he thought it’d be. “I, uh, I just need some flowers.”

“Date?” Michael asked, his tone professional and void of all emotion, and Luke didn’t like that.

“Mhm,” he nodded, already regretting that he came here.

“Okay,” Michael said, walking over to one of the massive flower pots. “You buying a couple of separate ones? Or d’you want to do the whole bouquet?”

He was still avoiding looking even in Luke’s general direction, and Luke tried not to pay attention to that. He was here because of Ashton, and he wanted to give Ashton something nice…

“A bouquet,” he said, and Michael sent a nod to the opposite wall, plucking out a few roses from different vases.

“White or red?”

“Red,” Luke said, and Michael put three of them on his counter, moving on to the next set of vases.

“What should we add? Lilies or anything white would look good, so you can take either baby’s breath, bouvardia or Queen Anne’s lace,” Michael spoke quickly, showing Luke three flowers he just named. Luke was astounded as of how much Michael actually knew about this, so he was going to ask Michael what he would pick, when the other boy’s eyes lit up.

“Actually, you know what? I know what we should add,” he said in a much more alive voice, obviously hit by some sort of inspiration, but all Luke could think about was the way his heart leaped up when he realized this was the second time Michael said “we”.

Michael, meanwhile, moved back to roses and hovered over the vases, picking out flowers from a few different ones. He rushed back behind his counter, and Luke saw that he was skillfully mixing the red roses between peach, pink and even a few yellow flowers. The bouquet was beautiful now, all these colors creating such a nice view that Luke was really impressed with Michael right this second.

“Here you go,” Michael said as he wrapped a thin baby pink lace around the bouquet to hold it together and then smiled a little, now looking at Luke, the flowers lying on his outstretched arms.

“It’s beautiful,” Luke said because it was the truth, and he took the bouquet, reaching for his wallet with his other hand to pay. He gave the money to Michael who was now looking at his cash register again, but his face wasn’t hard and detached as he looked for change. Luke, however, didn’t have any time to think about that because his phone rang loudly in the quietness of the shop, almost making him jump.

“Ashton?” Luke answered, remembering with a jolt that he had five minutes to kill before Ashton would be waiting on him. A quick glance at the clock on the wall told him he was already in the shop for 15.

“Where the hell are you, Luke?” Ashton asked, sounding tired, and Luke felt so ashamed, he didn’t know what to answer, but Ashton didn’t even give him the chance to. “Actually, you know what? I don’t care anymore. I just thought you’d have guts to actually show up and not dump me by simply not coming to meet me.”

“But I’m here, I’m right across the road!” Luke hurried to say before Ashton said something even more horrifying, and Michael finally passed him his change, but Luke’s hands were both busy, one with the flowers, the other with the phone.

“I don’t care anymore, Luke, I told you,” Ashton said, not sounding impatient and a little angry. “I tried so hard to be good for you, and you just weren’t in it and I get it, that happens, but you could have just told me and called it quits. I’ve had enough, so please don’t bother crossing the road. I’m done, Luke, so this is goodbye.”

Luke didn’t have time to squeeze in another word when Ashton hung up, and Luke felt his eyes filling with tears against his own will as he stood in the middle of the flower shop with a bouquet for someone who didn’t want to be with him anymore.

 

\--

 

Luke knew that he had it coming, that he deserved this, but it still hurt as hell to know he’d just been dumped. Luke wanted to run to Ashton and apologize, just say how sorry he was for doing all the things wrong and that Ashton was right and that Ashton deserved better. But he knew it would just piss him off more, if Luke did what Ashton told him not to do, so he stayed on the spot, shoving his phone in his back pocket and blinking the tears away from his eyes.

He wanted nothing more than just to run away, get in his bed and cry all night long, but he couldn’t do that for a lot of reasons, the worst being the useless bouquet in his arms.

“I can’t return it, can I?” Luke asked, not daring to turn and look a Michael who must have heard the whole thing.

“Not really, no,” Michael said, but his voice was quiet and he sounded like he was sorry. Luke didn’t need his damn pity.

“Don’t,” he warned, swallowing as he finally looked up, Michael’s wide green eyes locking with his. “I deserved that, and I don’t need you feeling sorry for me.”

“I’ll feel whatever I want to,” Michael shot back, immediately getting defensive, but his eyes were shining softly and kindly. “But no one deserves this, getting dumped over the phone without a chance to explain themselves. Plus, it’s kind of my fault for taking so long with this whole thing,” he waved around at the change still lying on the counter, the flowers in Luke’s arms and a mess of stray leaves and lace cutoffs on the side.

And Luke wanted to believe that, wanted someone to take a little of his guilt off his shoulders, but he knew Michael was just saying all that to make him feel better and not because it was true.

“You don’t know anything,” Luke said helplessly, biting on his lips to stop the tears, and Michael wouldn’t be Michael if he didn’t say anything back.

“I know enough,” he said. “I heard you talking to him in our kitchen, when you said he was controlling you or some shit. And now he just blamed you for the whole thing, for being late because you were getting him fucking _flowers_ , and there you are, falling for it like an idiot and standing there believing it’s your fault!”

Luke blinked, then looked up at the wall in front of him. Michael sounded more convincing this time, his voice was weirdly emotional like it mattered to him that Luke believed what he said.

“Fine, whatever,” Luke shot back, suddenly remembering that he has no reason to stand around and listen to Michael of all people telling him about relationships. He turned to leave, but remembered the flowers in his arms and walked back to the counter, placing them on top of it in front of Michael.

“Take them,” he said without thinking. “I don’t want it, and you tried really hard to create this. You can have them,” and with that Luke turned around and left the shop, feeling like he would never ever be okay again.

 

\--

 

Luke didn’t do much in the next few days except sleep, eat and go to classes. He was upset about Tuesday still, and he felt ashamed of himself for being secretly relieved that he didn’t have to break up with Ashton. He told the whole thing to Niall over the phone on Wednesday, and Niall took his side as a best friend is supposed to, saying that he was sorry for setting them up in the first place. Luke assured him he didn’t blame him for that, and Niall promised to pop in sometime during the weekend to cheer him up.

Luke was returning from his classes on Friday, simultaneously dreading and waiting for the weekend. On the bright side, Niall would come visit him, and on the not-so-bright side, Luke would have nothing to do with his time again.

Luke was brought back to reality by loud barking, and looked up to see a giant stray dog right in front of his apartment building door.

Of course, Luke thought. Why would it be standing somewhere else when that’s exactly where he needed to go?

Luke wasn’t really afraid of dogs, - his parents had a dog back in their house, - but stray dogs, especially big like this one, scared him still. He would never have dared to turn his back to this dog, and Luke was forced to stop in front of the porch because he couldn’t get past the animal.

The dog wasn’t barking anymore, but it looked at him without showing any intent to move in the nearest time, so Luke started to think he might be here for a while, when he heard an exasperated sigh and felt a hand wrapping around his own. He didn’t even need to look up because the touch of small, cold fingers was familiar, and the way his insides leaped at the sudden appearance of Michael was weirdly familiar to Luke, too.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of dogs,” Michael said, leading Luke forward at a brisk pace. The dog eyed them suspiciously but didn’t move as they went around and behind it to the door. “Don’t look back,” Michael warned and pushed Luke through the door before he went inside himself, closing it with his free hand.

Luke breathed deeply when they were in the relative safety of the stairway, and then realized that this calm feeling came over him even earlier - as soon as Michael’s hand touched his.

Luke was so struck by this discovery, he barely noticed how they went up the stairs, still hand in hand, and only a stop at Luke’s floor made him pay attention again.

Michael stopped, but didn’t let go and didn’t try to move away, and Luke didn’t know what to think. Michael spoke like he didn’t like him, but when it came to action Michael had been nothing but helpful and nice, and Luke was so confused it made his head hurt.

“I could have walked past it on my own,” Luke said in an attempt to regain some of his damaged dignity, but Michael only scoffed.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Try and make me,” challenged Luke, wanting to test out his new theory that whatever was between Michael and him could turn into something more.

Michael looked at Luke, eyes wide, as if he didn’t expect Luke to speak up, and his lips twitched a little.

“You sure you want me to?” Michael said, his voice low and seductive like Luke had never heard it be before. It sent chills all over his body, made his eyes stay glued to Michael’s red mouth that begged to be kissed. Luke was pretty sure both of them knew what this conversation was really about.

“Please?” Luke said, managing to tear his eyes from Michael’s lips and look in his eyes instead. They were dark and hid the unknown inside, but Luke trusted Michael, and he nodded a little in addition to his words.

And then Michael lunged forward, his lips finding Luke’s almost instinctively as he kissed him, and Luke gasped at the contact, his eyes fluttering close. Michael kissed harder, demanding for a response, so Luke kissed him back even though he barely knew what he was doing - Michael’s kiss drove him insane, made his head swirl and his hands shake as they slipped around Michael’s waist and locked behind his back to make sure he wouldn’t run away.

“Fuck,” Michael breathed out, breaking apart just to say that, and Luke smirked.

“That’s not my name,” he said cockily because it looked like Michael liked it, and surely enough the red-haired boy let out a groan and pressed Luke closer to him, kissing down Luke’s neck.

“Luke,” he gasped, breathing hot air on Luke’s neck. “Luke, goddamn it.” He left more wet kisses on Luke’s neck, leaving a trail from his ear to adam’s apple, and Luke suppressed a moan that threatened to escape from him.

“Fuck, Luke, I’ve been waiting for so long,” Michael said, his face still in the crook of Luke’s neck, and Luke suddenly felt hot in the face from just hearing that. It was such a private confession that Luke wanted to lock it up somewhere far away and only get it out when he wanted to relive this moment.

“Michael,” Luke panted, struggling to peel him away from himself. “Let’s go inside.”

Michael pulled back, his eyes sober and clear, and looked at Luke’s face, studying it carefully.

“You sure you want this?”

“I already told you,” Luke smiled and opened the door, pulling Michael inside after him.

 

\--

 

As soon as the door clicked close, Michael was holding Luke again, his hands on Luke’s hips and his breath on his face and his lips touching Luke’s so gingerly it was breaking Luke’s heart.

“Michael,” Luke said, and he responded with a low growl, obviously liking how that sounded. “Don’t hold back, okay?”

“Wasn’t planning to,” Michael whispered between kisses, his one hand coming up to stroke away strands of Luke’s hair that fell into his eyes. “Just wanted to take it slow.”

“Okay,” Luke breathed out and let himself dissolve under Michael’s touches, everything becoming far and irrelevant when Michael was kissing him like this. Luke’s hands caressed Michael’s back and sides and finally slipped under his sweater, making Michael gasp and letting Luke slip his tongue into the other boy’s mouth. They stepped to the wall first, but Luke didn’t want for everything to happen in a damn hallway, so he broke away from Michael again to lead him to his bedroom. Michael followed him, managing to stop a few times to press shuddering kisses to the back of Luke’s neck, and Luke was pretty sure that he was going to lose his mind.

Finally, they ended up on Luke’s unmade bed, but Michael didn’t seem to care as he climbed on top of Luke and kissed wherever he could reach. Luke would never be able to explain how Michael’s kisses were simultaneously slow and heated, passionate but careful. He kissed back whenever Michael’s lips touched his, but mostly he just moved his hands around, feeling all over Michael’s small body. Michael shifted his weight to the side a little, so his legs were in between Luke’s, and Luke could feel Michael’s hardened length pressing to his hip. It made Luke buckle up his hips a little, grinding up, and a moan that left Michael’s throat was like music to Luke’s ears.

Michael took it as a signal that he could start moving, too, and he grinded on Luke slowly, leaving hickeys on his wet neck. Luke could only run his fingers through Michael’s soft hair and moan out every time his own bulge came in contact with Michael’s crotch.

“M-Mikey, please,” Luke breathed out when he couldn’t take it any longer; he wanted more.

“Yeah?” Michael leaned back to look at him, and Luke saw his lips were all swollen and even redder than before.

“Do something, anything,” Luke begged, knowing that Michael would make him do that anyway in a second if he wanted to. Michael smirked, eyes glistening in the dim afternoon light.

“Okay,” he leaned down so his nose brushed Luke’s. Luke looked in his eyes, unable to stop, and wondered why he never thought about kissing Michael earlier.

Michael propped himself on an elbow and his other hand went down to Luke’s crotch, palming him a couple of times and then fumbling with the belt of Luke’s jeans, struggling to pull them down. Luke reached down and pushed the fabric down his legs, desperate for friction, and Michael’s hand immediately dived into Luke’s boxers, wrapping around his cock.

Luke moaned, unable to help himself, but Michael’s hand felt good around his hard flesh and he wanted more, so he moved his hips to show Michael he had to move as well. Michael’s mouth changed into a smirk again, and he leaned down to kiss Luke.

Michael’s hand started tugging on Luke’s cock, giving him immense pleasure, and Luke bit on his lips to avoid moaning out loud like a fucking pornstar, but Michael slowed down his movements and weakened the grip, making Luke whimper at the loss of contact.

“Nu-uh,” Michael said sternly, catching Luke’s gaze again. “You said, “don’t hold back”. That applies to you too, Lukey.”

Luke gulped, realizing that Michael wanted him to be loud, wanted to render him to a whimpering mess under him, and Luke knew that he couldn’t resist this devilish boy in front of him.

“Okay, I won’t” he staggered over his words, hips moving to meet Michael’s hand on their own account. Michael tightened his grip again, jerking Luke off as he writhed and moaned on the bed, seeking release. Michael didn’t know how Luke liked it, didn’t know what were the signs that Luke was close, but still somehow figured it out right away because he stopped just before tipping Luke over the edge.

“Nooo,” Luke groaned, wondering what he had done wrong now. “Please, Mikey.”

“Not yet,” Michael panted in response, and his hand, now warm from being around Luke’s dick, traveled up and under Luke’s thin shirt. “You have way too much clothes on to do anything.”

Luke sat up so abruptly, his head started to swirl, and threw off the shirt, then took off the jeans and the boxers completely, not ashamed of being entirely naked in front of the guy he barely knew. It wasn’t like that with Michael who somehow ended up closer to Luke than Ashton who he actually dated.

Michael, however, was still tangled in his sweater, and Luke hurried to help him, pulling the object to himself. It smelled of flowers, and Luke suddenly got inspired with the idea of leaving hickeys all over Michael’s pale skin, splattering it with red flowerlike kisses for him to carry around.

Michael didn’t let Luke continue that thought. Just when his hands were free again, he used them to hold Luke tight against him, and kissed him so desperately it felt like he needed it to survive.

“God, Luke,” Michael whispered, peppering Luke’s swollen lips and rosy cheeks with more kisses. “Do you have any idea how pretty you are?”

Luke just chuckled, moving to free Michael from his jeans as well, and Michael squirmed under his touch, helping him.

“Like a flower,” Michael whispered, and Luke was surprised that this comparison came to his head as well. But he had finally managed to get Michael naked, and he thought that nice words could wait a little.

“Want to suck you off,” Luke said against Michael’s lips, and he nodded in reply, so Luke turned them around and made Michael lay down on his bed, positioning himself near Michael’s hips. He couldn’t help it when he leaned down to leave a few kisses on the delicate white skin there, and Michael drew in a short breath, hands moving to Luke’s already messy hair. He used it to guide Luke lower, to where his hard cock lay heavily against Michael’s tummy, and Luke licked his lips before finally taking it in his mouth.

He tried really hard to give Michael the best blowjob he could, sucking in his cheeks and licking the head of his cock and working his hand over the base of the cock to keep the whole of him stimulated. Luke was rewarded with Michael’s groans of pleasure that escaped his mouth every time Luke bobbed his head down, and that along with Michael’s hands tugging at his hair was enough to keep Luke hard as well.

“Lu- Luke,” Michael stuttered, and Luke knew he just did something right because Michael spilled into his mouth with obscenely loud series of strangled moans containing Luke’s name and profanities, and Luke swallowed the thick substance in his mouth, ignoring the salty taste.

He pulled himself back to one level with Michael, falling on the pillow next to him. Michael looked completely blissed out, his hair sticking out in every way and stuck to his forehead where Michael was sweaty. Luke raised his hand to push the hair out of his eyes, thinking that he’d never seen anything more beautiful, and then Michael opened his eyes. He smiled seeing that Luke was looking at him, and his eyes sparkled like stars. Luke didn’t know any words to tell him how beautiful he looked right now, so he just leaned down and left a kiss in the corner of Michael’s mouth, knowing that he was still riding out his orgasm and wouldn’t kiss back.

“Luke,” Michael breathed a couple minutes later when he came to, and Luke hummed in response. He might have been staring at the beautiful boy in his bed all this time, but no one could judge him for that.

“Shit,” Michael laughed and looked at Luke. “I was supposed to be the alpha male, you know. Make you beg for it. And here we are, totally upside down.”

“I don’t mind,” Luke lied, thinking about how good it would have felt to have Michael commanding him around and making him writhe with a single touch. He was still hard but didn’t know if Michael was able to give him any relief.

“Good,” Michael whispered, voice seductive again as he kissed Luke for what must have been a millionth time. “Cause I want you to fuck me.”

Luke choked hearing that, his dick twitching all on its own at the idea of himself inside Michael, himself making Michael come the second time, untouched.

“Oh God,” he said, kissing back with passion as his hands started roaming all over Michael’s body again. “You sure?”

“Luke, dammit,” Michael swore, eyes flashing with impatience. “Yes, I’m sure. I want you to take me any way you want to, all the ways. I want you to ram me so hard I can’t walk the next day, I want you so much it hurts. Please, Luke, just fuck me.”

Those words alone would have been enough to make Luke come without even touching himself, but he strained against it and held back. He wanted to give Michael what he asked for. Wanted Michael to remember it, wanted to make Michael feel like no one had before.

“Well, then, you got it,” Luke answered, hearing his roughened up voice as if from the side. He slapped Michael’s small ass, making him gasp and then moan, kissing along Luke’s jawline again. Luke stretched out his arm that wasn’t holding Michael down, leaning over him to reach out and open the lowest drawer of the bedside table where he kept the lube. When he managed to fish it out, he leaned back and let Michael kiss all over his chest while he was opening it, and Michael pulled away when he heard the noise of the bottle popping open.

Michael looked at Luke innocently.

“How do you want me?”

“On your back,” Luke ordered, liking that he was in charge more and more with each second. Michael obediently lay on his back, spreading his legs so that Luke would fit between them. Luke crouched down over Michael’s cute little butt, warming up the lube with his fingers. Michael was looking at him intently, waiting for the touch, and when Luke glided his oily fingers over Michael’s pink hole, he shuddered all over but didn’t move away.

“Do it,” Michael breathed out, his eyes shut now, and Luke pushed his finger into Michael, making him moan. Luke moved the finger a little bit at first, but when Michael started wriggling under him, fucking himself on Luke’s finger, he added another one, making Michael gasp for air. Luke stopped, giving Michael time to adjust, and Michael looked at him from under his heavy lids, clearly thankful.

“All good, go on,” he said after a couple moment, and Luke fingered him a little more before adding the third finger, stretching Michael out properly. The boy’s groans echoed throughout the house because they never bothered to close the bedroom door, but Luke didn’t care. In fact, he wanted Michael to be louder, wanted everyone to know how good he was making him feel. Now Luke understood why Michael wanted him to stop holding back.

“Babe, you ready?” Luke asked, because the noises Michael was making were sending him into overdrive, and Luke wanted some relief for his aching cock.

“Yeah, yes,” Michael panted. “Fuck me, Luke.”

So Luke pulled his fingers out of Michael and rolled a condom on his cock, and then moved forward, pinning down Michael's hips with his hand and guiding his cock to Michael’s hole. Michael breaths became even more shallow when he felt Luke’s red tip at his entrance, and he moved down on the bed as if wanting to fuck himself onto Luke’s dick.

Luke slid inside him in one motion, feeling the warm tightness of Michael embrace him from all the sides, and it felt so incredibly good like never before. He looked at Michael, spread out and stuffed completely full with Luke’s cock, and he wanted to capture this moment forever if it was impossible to keep living it.

He stayed motionless until Michael got used to him inside his asshole, and when Michael nodded, Luke started slowly pulling out and pushing back in, wonderful sensation making him shudder. He wasn’t sure how long he’d last with Michael moaning and whimpering so loudly and with Michael’s hole clenching Luke’s cock just right, but he wanted it to last forever.

“Luke, faster,” the sound of his own name made Luke pay attention, and he immediately fulfilled the request, increasing the speed of his cock going in and out of Michael. He felt hotness gathering in his stomach, pooling like a sea of pure pleasure, and rammed harder into Michael just like he asked, his hips meeting Michael’s ass with slapping sounds. Michael was moving with him, his hands clawing at Luke’s back as Luke hit his prostate once, twice, and then twice more, but already on purpose. He felt himself on the brink of coming and grinded into Michael one last time. Michael was already spilling again on his own stomach, and Luke cried out, his semen filling the condom. The sensation of Michael tight around him started to hurt, and he pulled out, slipping his condom off and throwing it somewhere on the floor. Luke felt too good to care about that right now, and he fell next to Michael, panting desperately .

 

\--

 

They both just lay there for a few minutes, or maybe an hour, trying to come to their senses, and finally Luke reached for the covers and wanted to pull them over their naked bodies. Michael put up a weak hand, gesturing at the mess on his stomach that would get on the covers, but Luke shook his head, showing that he didn’t care, and covered them both.

Michael turned around, rolling closer to Luke, and Luke opened his arms to let him in. It felt so natural, so good to be lying together with Michael after what they’d just done, Luke didn’t even think that something might go wrong.

And then, Michael started shuffling around and tried turning away from Luke, but when he failed he attempted to sit up altogether, breaking away from the embrace.

“Michael?” Luke asked, immediately worried that he’d done something wrong. What if Michael didn't like cuddles, or didn’t want to stay? They’d dived into this so quickly, they never had the chance to discuss what “this” even was.

Michael didn’t answer, only shook his head so violently that his hair flew around his head, and Luke sat up too, putting his hands on Michael’s small shoulders, but the boy shrugged them off, and Luke saw with horror that he was shaking and sobbing, his hands pressed to his face.

“Michael!” Luke called, trying to turn the crying boy around and look him in the face, but Michael resisted, and Luke jumped up on the bed, sitting down in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, terrified out of his mind that he’d hurt Michael somehow. “What did I do? Michael, please, just tell me!”

“N-n.. nothing’s wrong,” Michael managed to get out in between sobs. “I’m just stupid.”

“What? No,” Luke argued, still not fully sure it wasn’t his fault. “Michael, you’re not stupid, okay? Please just tell me what is wrong.”

“I’m.. Luke, I… I did the whole thing wrong, didn’t I?” Michael drew in shaking breaths as he spoke. “I-I should have… asked you out, and everything… Not go around like this, when.. When you’re so…”

He obviously couldn’t finish, and Luke was struck with realization that Michael was so emotional because he had convinced himself he didn’t take him out on a date before having sex and that it was a wrong move.

Luke almost wanted to laugh, because this was so silly, only Michael would have worried about something like that.

“Mikey, listen to me. I don’t care about dates, you of all people should know I’m not very good at that,” he let out a chuckle. “All I care about is that I got to be with you, cause you’re amazing. I just want you to know that it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. _You_ are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Luke finished quietly, not knowing if this truth would be enough to calm Michael down but wanting to say it anyway.

And Michael looked up, pulled his hands back from his tear-stained face and looked at Luke.

“Really? And you don’t think I’m weird, or loud, or just fucking dumb?”

“No! Why would I think that?” Luke grabbed Michael's hands, squeezing them in his. “Please don’t ever say that about yourself. I know I didn’t really show it, but you’re special to me, okay? I… I like you, and your hair, and the flower shop you work in, and how good you are at board games, and how good you are in bed,” Luke blushed a little saying that; it was still a little weird talking with Michael about sex. “And… and I trust you, I feel safe with you, and I don’t want you to leave.”

Michael looked at him, wide-eyed and beautifully messed up, and then launched himself onto Luke, hugging him close. Luke fell back on the bed from the force of the impact and laughed because Michael just tackled him with a hug, and if that wasn’t the weirdest thing that’s happened today then Luke was a llama.

“I don’t want to leave you either,” Michael whispered in Luke’s ear, arms still wrapped tightly around Luke’s neck, and Luke hugged back, his hands resting on Michael’s waist as he breathed in the familiar scent of flowers.

“So don’t leave,” Luke whispered back, and his lips pressed to Michael’s neck as if it was the most natural thing in the world and Luke knew that he could get used to this, holding Michael and kissing Michael and being with Michael.

“Okay,” Michael hummed against Luke’s shoulder as Luke nibbled on a sensitive spot he’d just found.

“Gonna leave a bruise,” Luke informed him, licking over the skin and sucking on it again. Michael let out a breathless laugh.

“Good, it’ll remind me that I’m yours now,” he said, and Luke broke off to look him in the eye. Michael was smiling now, though the tears were still visible in his green eyes. Luke felt like tearing up himself, happiness from finding someone as incredible as Michael to be all his flooding him. But Luke only smiled back and said, “Okay, but what will remind _me_ about that?”

“Hmm,” Michael pretended to think as his fingers traced Luke’s face. “I could be your boyfriend, I don’t know.”

Luke’s breath hitched as he thought about this: Michael, always next to him, Michael, proudly holding his hand when they’re together, Michael, giving him all the pretty flowers he wants to…

“Yes, that will do,” Luke agreed and kissed Michael on the lips, holding him close as never before, but no amount of hugging could show Michael just how close he was to Luke’s heart.

Michael was falling asleep on Luke’s chest as he thought about this in the dying light of the day, going through all the comparisons he could remember but in the end decided to go with his own. They were close like two flowers in a bouquet: amazingly different and wonderful in their own ways, but together creating such a beautiful contrast that no matter how small they were compared to the universe, it would still stop and stare at them because in all of its endless space you wouldn’t find anything prettier.


End file.
